Bank Accounts in Dubai

Hi, It depends on your bank totally. Few banks in Dubai allow customers to maintain non-resident account like Emirates NBD. You have to maintain some minimum balance and pay some annual fees. but you need to inform your bank before going to leave UAE and maintain a non-resident account.

Thank you Hayat for the valuable information.   Ever since we came to Dubai, we have been banking with the same Emirates NBD in [link moderated] because it is close to where we live in Deira. Since we have decided to stay in Dubai for a long time, we are planning to take a home loan. Is it possible for us to take home loan from the any bank, coz we are expats?

This is an old post.

And to answer your question; yes if you are resident in UAE,  you can get a home loan as an expat.  The amount will vary depending on your income and other requirements.

okay. we are non-residents as of now. just been here 6 months

Non residents cannot get loans unless they are residents of other GCC countries and very few banks have that offering.

It depends on your bank and its policy. Some banks allow you to retain the savings account in spite of being an expat. However, you need to maintain a minimum balance and pay the annual fees. Further, you need to inform the bank that you are leaving the UAE and maintain a non-resident account. Although some banks don’t have such policies, it is always better to talk to the bank to know the procedure.

Practically speaking, if you don't want banking facilities in the UAE and have no loans outstanding, you can leave.  After a while, your bank will mark your account as inactive when the ID in their system expires.   As an example, I left UAE in 2014, my Emirates ID expired 2016 and my account was only marked inactive in end 2017 (After sending me a lot of reminders).   Haven't faced any issue and my bank told me that they will reactivate the account when I come back and provide them with a valid Emirates ID.  This happened for both of my accounts with HSBC and Emirates NBD.  However, I did deactivate the credit cards over the phone before leaving - otherwise if there are fraudulent transactions or any charges, it would create problems for you.